For going on a year now, I have been maintaining an almost 160 pound weight loss. My ultimate goal is to lose another 50 pounds. My problem is one that has been from the beginning...I just can not decide how many calories I need each day..well, that and the fact that for the first time ever in my life I am comfortable with my weight (but not my body by any means) so I have not been as strict as I had been with everything.

My workout schedule these days is as follows:

30 minutes of a cardio/weight interval DVD (ie 30 Day Shred, Last Chance Workout, etc), I do this 6 days a week upon waking (as of last week)

Then I also walk 3 miles on the treadmill at 3.3MPH and around a 5% incline and I do these 1 mile at a time, the actual treadmill schedule is this

1pm - 1 mile
2pm - 1 mile
3pm - 1 mile

This is also done 6 days a week. Other than normal daily moving about, the above is the most I do.

I seem to have reverted back to my beginnings where I just let all the numbers tossed around confuse me to no end and all I want is to lose weight.

On this maintaining thing for the past year, my exercise has not been consistent and I had probably been consuming around 1800 calories a day.

I know what I would tell others who asked these questions but I really truly would love some advice on what caloric amount I should try out with the exercise I do.

I'm very spoiled by using Spark people - have you tried plugging in your data there and the exercise your doing and having them set up a calorie range?

Aside from that, I think if you do in fact keep up with that amount of exercise, I would keep your calories somewhere in the 1500-1900 range, trying for a few low days and a few high days each week to keep your body guessing as to what it's going to get

I think it's fantastic you have maintained what you have done so far - that's such an inspiration to me!

I'm very spoiled by using Spark people - have you tried plugging in your data there and the exercise your doing and having them set up a calorie range?

Aside from that, I think if you do in fact keep up with that amount of exercise, I would keep your calories somewhere in the 1500-1900 range, trying for a few low days and a few high days each week to keep your body guessing as to what it's going to get

I think it's fantastic you have maintained what you have done so far - that's such an inspiration to me!

I actually do have a sparkpeople.com account that I use to plug in my foods and exercise each day and have for the most of my journey and this is their recommendation for calorie goal daily - 1,640 - 1,990

I don't know why I have to let my head get lost in all the numbers and drive myself crazy. Thanks so much for the response, advice and support

Michele, I would try the calculation again at Sparkpeople. This time I would NOT include your activity level--claim to be sedentary, which you are not. Then I would try to eat at the top of the calorie recommendation. I feel that those calculators tend to recommend too high of calorie levels for the amount of activity we do. You might want to try a range of 1200-1500. But also add in lots of bulking veggies (think volume) to fill you up--my favorite is cooked cabbage (love the stuff!).

On another note, congrats for maintaining your HUGE weight loss. That can only mean that you have mastered maintenance!

Onederchic, You are one of my weight loss heroes. You have done so fantastic.

We are the same height so I identify with you. I still weigh 20 pounds more than you do but am pretty happy with my size. I still have lots and lots of fat but feel so much better than I did before and move so much better. I can only imagine how complacent I will be when I lose 20 more pounds. I imagine that is where you are, or at least that is what I read into your post. Maintaining for a year is wonderful and a victory in itself.

I think that it is OK if you are happy here and want to maintain at your current weight. However, if you want to lose, you know how. First, verify how many calories you are consuming now. Your "I had probably been consuming around 1800 calories a day" tells me that you have not been keeping strict count. After you are sure of the calorie amount that you are maintaining on, drop it. If you are happy with slow loss, drop it a couple of hundred calories a day. If you want to speed it up, drop more. If you are consuming 1800 calories a day, you have room to drop it several hundred. It depends on what you want.

Michele, I would try the calculation again at Sparkpeople. This time I would NOT include your activity level--claim to be sedentary, which you are not. Then I would try to eat at the top of the calorie recommendation. I feel that those calculators tend to recommend too high of calorie levels for the amount of activity we do. You might want to try a range of 1200-1500. But also add in lots of bulking veggies (think volume) to fill you up--my favorite is cooked cabbage (love the stuff!).

On another note, congrats for maintaining your HUGE weight loss. That can only mean that you have mastered maintenance!

Thank you. I will go on sparkpeople today and recalculate to see what happens

Onederchic, You are one of my weight loss heroes. You have done so fantastic.

We are the same height so I identify with you. I still weigh 20 pounds more than you do but am pretty happy with my size. I still have lots and lots of fat but feel so much better than I did before and move so much better. I can only imagine how complacent I will be when I lose 20 more pounds. I imagine that is where you are, or at least that is what I read into your post. Maintaining for a year is wonderful and a victory in itself.

I think that it is OK if you are happy here and want to maintain at your current weight. However, if you want to lose, you know how. First, verify how many calories you are consuming now. Your "I had probably been consuming around 1800 calories a day" tells me that you have not been keeping strict count. After you are sure of the calorie amount that you are maintaining on, drop it. If you are happy with slow loss, drop it a couple of hundred calories a day. If you want to speed it up, drop more. If you are consuming 1800 calories a day, you have room to drop it several hundred. It depends on what you want.

It seems like you are maybe in a weird place in your head where you are kind of dreading this final push and just don't want to get started. If that's the case (and I am making a guess--I may be wrong!), you need to figure out what you are dreading--is it the hunger? The having to be OCD about everything again? I just wonder if this indecision isn't rooted in some other hesitation about starting.

If this is the case, what you are dreading can likely be fixed--there are a thousand plans and strategies out there. Or I could be totally off base, in which case, ignore me!

Hmm, it may be the fact that I am satisfied in the amount I have been eating and I am dreading eating less though I really haven't given too much thought behind the reasons, which I probably, at some point, should do. Thanks

We are the same height, close to the same weight, and doing about the same amount of exercise. I am majorly spoiled by having a body bugg so I know exactly what I burn each day, but since we are about the same size and doing about the same amount you can maybe take advantage of my body bugg info too. I burn about 2650 a day on the days I do my normal workouts - I do have crazy days where I burn between 3,000 and 4,000, but those aren't my average days. My daily goals are to eat 1650 and burn 2650. I have had a plateau this last month, but it seems to be a hormonal thing and this 1650 in and 2650 out generally works really well for me. You could either drop your calories in or up your calories burned or do a tiny bit of both. Maybe up the speed of your treadmill time by a touch and also add a little distance to each treadmill workout?

Think of the time you have spent at maintenance as a chance for your body to recover after you did such an awesome job losing that 160 and think of it as a learning to maintain experience. Now get back in there and get to where you want to be! Remember, you know how to do this and now you know how to maintain and if you buckle down and get it done you can go back to maintaining in no time.

I don't know, if you feel good, are eating healthfully, and are satisfied with your food, I wouldn't mess with that side of the energy balance. Maybe shoot for an additional 100 calories in deficit and see if that helps? My recommendation would be to focus on building muscle mass and using THAT to increase your burn. If you haven't read it already, New Rules of Lifting for Women is awesome and you are definitely fit enough to do it. Heavy Cardio has the unfortunate side effect of reducing lean muscle mass, when coupled with calorie restriction, so I would really focus on quality proteins and sculpting your shape a bit with a lot of good lifting, and you may well see the scale move in the right direction again as well. Gaining lean mass will help you look better at the same weight, at any ate, so it's worth a shot!

First off - taking off 160 pounds and maintaining - that is an amazing accomplishment.

Maybe before deciding on a calorie number track your average daily calories and then analyze it to see if you can play with the ratio of protien/fat/carbs to feel more full at a similar ( or lower) calorie level. Another thought is cutting down by like 50 calories a day. It will still make a difference over time.

Are there certain meals or snacks you eat regularly? Maybe if you posted them the chickies here may have ideas on how to make the meals and snacks less calories.

One final thought... If the thought of obsessing over daily calories is dragging you down, maybe you could preplan all meals and snacks for the week and write a menu. Calculate and plan on the one planning day. Then you don't have to think about it the rest of the week. You just need to stick with your menu.

I don't know, if you feel good, are eating healthfully, and are satisfied with your food, I wouldn't mess with that side of the energy balance. Maybe shoot for an additional 100 calories in deficit and see if that helps? My recommendation would be to focus on building muscle mass and using THAT to increase your burn. If you haven't read it already, New Rules of Lifting for Women is awesome and you are definitely fit enough to do it. Heavy Cardio has the unfortunate side effect of reducing lean muscle mass, when coupled with calorie restriction, so I would really focus on quality proteins and sculpting your shape a bit with a lot of good lifting, and you may well see the scale move in the right direction again as well. Gaining lean mass will help you look better at the same weight, at any ate, so it's worth a shot!

First off - taking off 160 pounds and maintaining - that is an amazing accomplishment.

Maybe before deciding on a calorie number track your average daily calories and then analyze it to see if you can play with the ratio of protien/fat/carbs to feel more full at a similar ( or lower) calorie level. Another thought is cutting down by like 50 calories a day. It will still make a difference over time.

Are there certain meals or snacks you eat regularly? Maybe if you posted them the chickies here may have ideas on how to make the meals and snacks less calories.

One final thought... If the thought of obsessing over daily calories is dragging you down, maybe you could preplan all meals and snacks for the week and write a menu. Calculate and plan on the one planning day. Then you don't have to think about it the rest of the week. You just need to stick with your menu.

All my meals are basically the same day in and day out. I don't really need variety, I just need to eat less